


and life is like a song

by the_bumbly_bee



Category: Lovecraft Country (TV), Lovecraft Country - Matt Ruff
Genre: Angst, Comedy, Drama, F/M, Family Feels, Fluff, Horror, Non-Linear Narrative, One Big Happy Family, Romance, Slice of Life, mostly - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-09
Updated: 2020-11-25
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:35:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26920732
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_bumbly_bee/pseuds/the_bumbly_bee
Summary: blues-fuelled scenes - but the thrill is decidedly  not, as mr king laments otherwise, gone
Relationships: Atticus "Tic" Freeman/Letitia "Leti" Lewis
Comments: 8
Kudos: 11





	1. woman, what you do to me

**Author's Note:**

> for the lccu ladies

Leti?

The faint  _hm_ leads him upstairs, and he catches himself - and his tongue - against the landing to make way for James' hasty descent.

Where's he off to? he leans, hand resting on the chair Leti sits hunched over in.

Late for a date. Look- filled up another one, and she's fiddling with the canister in question, red nails tick-tacking on the smooth silver plastic. 

She turns all smiles, pleased as ever, and there's that glint in her eye, he thinks. Eyes that've filled a few picture albums lining the cold shelves down below, that he's sure will fill more than this house can contain. He lets his mind wander about then - big house, airy rooms, plenty of green outside for picnicking and playing and raising the future.

Oh, and a library of course.

That'd make what, three?

Ah, four. Atticus smiles. He rests a palm on her growing tummy, humming notes in no particular order. 

He murmurs, I'm grabbing lunch - Dee's already waitin' out front - you?

Sandwich'll do me fine. Oh, but could you-

Jessup's? He got new stock?

He better.

Alright, he laughs, pecking her temple - laughing noisily when she grabs his chin for a proper kiss, damn you Atticus Freeman - before two-stepping back down the stairs.

He just barely registers her _I'll be in the basement!_ over Dee's _finally_ as he closes the door behind him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chapter length can and will vary


	2. corner store

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> dedicated as always to my lccu ladies; y'all really have me up in my feels

Dollar a piece, five for a half dozen, and if you're lookin' to buy me out again within the month, hmph, I'm gonna have to start chargin' a _pre_ -mium, croaks the gravelly voice of ol' Hank Jessup.

Yessir, Atticus nods, who doesn't hand over the pressed five dollar note so much as it gets snatched away from him by the proprietor's gnarled fingers.

_Henry_ , are you botherin' customers again, comes Mrs. Jessup's sweet admonishment from behind the register. Atticus watches the old man shuffle away - _sit tight, boxes only came in yesterday mornin'_ \- and stands by the counter, preparing to engage in the usual small talk. He smiles at the offer of a cold iced tea - _homemade by that old grump if you can believe it_. 

So tell me son, because I am curious, Mrs. Jessup starts. There is a soft clinking of ice tumbling against ice, Atticus swirling the worn glass that seems comically dwarfish in his hand. He takes one long sip then tells of how it had happened, like this:

He had drawn the short of it and was out on a guide trip the week that his Aunt had decided to take Dee exploring - except that Hippolyta also had it in mind to do some important research or other and meantime needed her daughter minded.

She said she'd asked Ruby, but you know my sister's always busy northside - then that it'd be a good opportunity for me to get some good shots, which I did- oh, I can't _wait_ for you to see them.

_But?_

I'd have gone anyway, you know? Dee seemed to enjoy herself enough. Are you all like that? Leti pours into the phone, fiddling with her fourth finger as she recants the day's adventure.

His warm laugh crackles through, filling the space between her head and her heart. _I think she just doesn't want to scare you off._

So that's why she's been using up so many rolls, there's just been a lot to, uh, see, Atticus explains to his captive audience.

Mrs. Jessup nods sagely, says it's a good thing your lady's got a keen eye - and you won't need to worry 'bout remembering all your moments. If she thinks it strange that a woman well into her third trimester is still somehow able to travel so often to what sounds like fantastical worlds rather than rural Kentucky - Atticus tries his best not to give _too_ much detail, but it's hard not to fall into Leti's words - she doesn't show. Instead she winks conspiratorial-like for what must be the twelfth time in as many minutes and Atticus nods yes ma'am, _any_ day now, hopefully he takes after her.

You tell Letitia to fill up as many picture albums as she needs now, and don't pay Henry no mind - all his showin' of grief is just that, fact he's been waiting to ask if she could do our Christmas pi-

_Hush_ , woman. Here y'are son, Hank Jessup says, placing a small brown box into Atticus' hands, the fuzzy face marked with a hastily scrawled " _for Ms. Lewis_ ", and tell that lady o' y'ers to take it easy with the da-

Hank. You go on now dear, she gives Atticus one last toothy, knowing grin.

_Now Henry Jessup, you need to stop being such a grump..._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> not a direct continuation of the last chapter [expect non-linear storytelling]; i should say now as well, for continuity errors that may or may not arise in future, try not to think too hard about it~
> 
> i've always liked the name jessup


	3. lunchbreak

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> what better way to de-stress inbetween exams

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> its the fluff for me

She's still panting into Atticus' shoulder when the alarm blasts, laughing softly at the curse that buzzes between them. She presses one kiss, two, three to his neck.  
  
What time is it?  
  
Uh...he offers weakly, scrubbing a hand over his face. Leti shifts, squeaks, then shifts again, flopping onto the largely untouched left side of the queen single - _impressive_ was all she could say for the new furniture before he lay her down, at which point it started applying to other things entirely.  
  
Lei? You comfy?  
  
Hm, yeah. Her arms stretch against the headboard, one shoulder letting out a satisfying _pop_. Mm. Oh stop gloating, she slaps his chest. Atticus catches it, pressing a kiss to the back of her offending hand.  
  
You wanna get some...lunch?  
  
She lifts a brow.  
  
No, he laughs, voice only half-suggestive. I mean, is it a late lunch or early dinner at four-thirty?   
  
Where'd you have in mind?  
  
Hm, nowhere really.

She watches the yawn shake his body from tip to toe, mirroring him as he curls to his side and wraps her closer. He presses his forehead against hers, rubs her nose with his, giving as much of himself as he can - _and more, always more_ \- in the space between their drumming hearts.   
  
We could always order-  
  
Yeah, yeah let's do that, and Leti sighs-

and sighs-

and sighs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's so short but so is my attention span so ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> as always, dedicated to my lccu ladies


	4. put on your sunday clothes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Timing has never been his strong suit.

I...told her I'd wait for her.

Oh, says Leti, for once unsure where to tread.

Well-

I know it- I didn't mean to give her an _ultimatum_ , it's only that where my _mouth_ should be there's a _foot_ instead-

Eli, darling, come sit down - and she leads him by the arm through hallways he's trudged a hundred times, the pictures he knows well by heart watching as they pass the guest rooms and the library and the downstairs bath. Sunday evenings quieted once more in the Freeman's kitchen, the Mr. and Mrs. taking full advantage of the life of intermittent peace afforded by the twins' weekly returns to the University.

Let me, he says, taking the leftover lunch and setting it on the table. He slumps in his seat then, and scrubs a hand over his face, exhaling with the weariness of an overextended heart. Leti hums thoughtfully, twirling her fork mid-air as if to catch her sentences with a chicken-shaped butterfly net. 

You know, she wouldn't ever do anything she didn't want to.

Elijah despairs.

Oh Eli, let me finish will you? It's a _good_ thing. Contrary to belief, we all saw this coming sooner than later - and the only shock you gave was the _timing._ On a Sunday afternoon right before they head back up to school? Come on now. 

He blushes. 

I could've- should've, ah, chosen a better time...

Maybe. But, in a way, it works, doesn't it? That Ava Freeman will be thinking of nothing but the infuriatingly earnest man who will be waiting on some kind of reply come next weekend - and we all know how she can get when the ball is in her court. Honestly, if I didn't know any better I'd have thought Atticus helped engineer the whole operation.

They laugh. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not me all up in my feels about the Freeman family [again].

**Author's Note:**

> chapter length can and will vary


End file.
